DESCRIPTION: (taken from Abstract) This exploratory study will use the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) to examine hospitalized inpatient care for working people suffering job-related injuries and illnesses. Few health services research studies have been conducted that focus on occupational medical care provided through workers' compensation insurance and this study will contribute new, previously unavailable, information about the distribution and characteristics of hospitalized care for patients with work- related conditions. It builds on AHRQ's professed interest in promoting better health care for injured workers, and recent initiatives by AHRQ's, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and private foundations to sponsor research that improves the national understanding of the medical care aspects of work-related injury and disease. This study will use three years of NIS data (1997-1999) to: (a) describe the distribution and nature of hospitalized inpatient care for patients with work-related injuries and illness in terms of patient demographics (age, sex, race, median income), costs, common work-related diagnoses and procedures, hospital characteristics, length of stay, and other selected variables, (b) describe associations between key variables to identify patterns of care, and formulate hypotheses about the determinants of care that can be tested in future regression studies, and (c) compare aspects of inpatient care for patients with work- related conditions to other patients of similar age and gender being treated for similar non work-related conditions. Preliminary pilot studies indicate that approximately 120,000 cases of inpatient care for job-related conditions will be available for analysis in this study. The pilot studies have demonstrated the feasibility if using the NIS discharge data to collect descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses of the type proposed in this study. The ultimate objective of this research is to develop and expand the evidence base for assessing the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of clinical systems for delivering medical care under workers' compensation, and ensuring that high quality and appropriate care is provided to patients.